US Supreme Court agrees to hear ‘Bridgegate’ case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal involving two people convicted in the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal.
The justices said Friday they would hear a case in the fall involving Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni. They were convicted in 2016 of fraud and civil rights violations for realigning the lanes to the George Washington Bridge without telling local officials.
Prosecutors say that the realignment was done to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Republican former Gov. Chris Christie in the 2013 election.
An appeals court threw out their civil rights convictions last fall but upheld the fraud counts.
Kelly was Christie's deputy chief of staff. Baroni was deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Kelly said in a statement, “I am grateful and encouraged that the Supreme Court has decided to hear my case, and hopeful that this process will provide another opportunity for the truth to come out - for my sake, and more importantly, for the sake of my children.”
Baroni’s attorney released a statement on his behalf, saying, “Bill Baroni is grateful to the Supreme Court for choosing to accept this case, and he is confident that the court will conclude that neither he nor Bridget Kelly committed any crime."
Christie was never charged in the case and has always denied any involvement or knowledge of the situation.
"I've always said that that prosecution was a politically motivated, politically vindictive prosecution,” Christie said while appearing on “The View” Friday. “There was no federal crime there. So now we're going to see what the Supreme Court says. We'll wait and see.”
Kelly testified during her trial that Christie knew what she was going to do.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the decision.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.